Robert Michael Pyle

September 16, 1999
Web posted at: 4:13 p.m. EDT (2013 GMT)

In his new book, "Chasing Monarchs: Migrating with the Butterflies of Passage," Pyle chronicles his travels with America's favorite insect. However, he says the book is more of a memoir or travel log than a scientific text.

"The entire book is written as a lyric narrative, 'in layman's terms.' It does not contain any science that should be offputting to the general reader. The book is intended for anyone who enjoys a good read, a road trip, the West, and the natural world ..." Pyle says.

Pyle, a naturalist with doctorate in ecology from Yale University, made the journey because he wanted to learn more about the mystery of the monarch migration.

Though he now lives in Washington, he grew up in Colorado and spent years watching the butterflies cross the continental divide in both directions.

"I never believed the reigning orthodoxy that said Mexican and Californian overwintering monarchs split at the Rockies, and I wanted to test that myth," Pyle says.

Pyle's skepticism was warranted. During his journey he followed monarchs crossing into Mexico west of the Continental Divide, debunking the belief that all western monarchs winter along the California coast.

There were times that he lost the butterflies, but his familiarity with their habits and natural habitats always made it easy for him to find them again.

Each day he would camp where they slept and each day he would wake and travel with them. He put all his trust in where they would lead.

"There is nothing more liberating to me as a naturalist than to place myself at the mercy of another organism for an extended period of time in the field -- to have my decisions made for me, to allow another species to be my guide, day after day," says Pyle.

"The species is not endangered, but its fabulous migration is listed by international agencies as a 'Threatened Phenomenon.' I felt that knowing more about the butterfly would give us a better chance to protect it," he said.

Pyle has chased butterflies for more than 40 years, and written several books on butterfly watching. His previous works include "Where Bigfoot Walks" and "Wintergreen." His is the editor of "Nabokov's Butterflies."

"Chasing Monarchs: Migrating with the Butterflies of Passage," is published by the Houghton Mifflin Company.